Chocolates and Cuddles
by missnikkinote
Summary: Paige, normally the cheerleader of the team, is shedding a few tears. So Ralph takes it upon himself to fill in and lift her spirits.


I can't sleep. It's pitch black in my bedroom. I should be sleeping. I want to be sleeping. After everything that happened today I'm exhausted. But as tired as I am, my eyes won't stay shut.

It's like I can hear Mom crying. Actually I can't hear anything, my room is completely quiet. But when I passed by her bedroom to go get a glass of water, that's when I heard her crying. And I didn't like it, but I didn't know what to do, so I just came straight back to my room. But now that I know it's happening I'm imagining that I can still hear her even though she's too far away.

She's sad and I don't know what to do because she's normally the one that does the helping when someone's feelings aren't okay. I just want her to be happy again because I feel good when she's happy. The best times are when we're happy together. I wish she could see her own smile. That's something that helps make me feel better when I get sad.

And I could really use her smile right now too. I'm a little upset with Dad and Walter and I don't want to be because after Mom they're my favourite people. But something happened today that I don't understand and now no one is happy.

I wish I knew what it was that went wrong today because to me it seemed like everything ended alright. The team finished their job and by the end everyone was safe and okay. I think maybe it might be my fault Mom got upset. She didn't like what I did but I was just trying to help. We're a cyclone and when one scorpion's in trouble all the others jump in to help. That's all I was doing.

But when we got back to the garage and the three of them went upstairs, Mom, Dad, and Walter, their voices started getting louder and louder and I heard my name more than once. Happy made me go outside with her before I could figure out what they were saying about me. As we were heading out the door I heard Cabe telling someone they needed to keep their voices down.

When we finally went back inside no one was raising their voices any more. But Mom wasn't smiling. And she wasn't talking to Dad or Walter. So she's mad at all three of us. And I'm mad at all three of us because we took away her smile.

I should do something to make her feel better. If it was me crying she'd be in here already. But I don't know what to say. I don't ever know what to say. Toby gave me a box of chocolates a couple of days ago. I'm supposed to give them to Sloan. He said if I gave her the chocolates I wouldn't have to say anything because they'd do the talking for me. Maybe it works for moms too. Sloan won't miss the chocolates she didn't even know she was getting.

"Mom?" I call out as I slowly push the door to her room open. It's dark in here too but I hear the sound of tissues being pulled from the box before she turns her lamp on.

"What's wrong, Sweetheart?"

I'm not sure why she's asking that when she's the one who's crying. Silently, I move so I'm standing beside the head of her bed and hand her the box of chocolates. She looks confused but there's a tiny smile that comes onto her face so Toby must have been right about the chocolates.

"Why are you giving me these?"

Or not. The chocolates were supposed to do all the talking. I still don't know what I should say so instead of talking I take the now damp tissues from her hand and go throw them out for her. When I come back her smile's gotten a little bigger.

"You should eat one," I tell her, hoping to bring back her full smile.

"It's the middle of the night, Ralph. And I've already brushed my teeth," she says, giving me a knowing look. I guess she realized I skipped brushing my teeth tonight. I was so tired I went straight to my bed as soon as Cabe dropped us home. Mom's car is ruined. Maybe she's upset about that too.

"Maybe this can be a one-time exception," I try.

"But why?" she asks, bringing her hand to my chin to tilt my face towards her. I had been looking down at the carpet because it's easier that way, but I'm glad she's not so upset with me that she doesn't want to be near me.

"I don't want to have to wait until tomorrow for you to feel better."

And her smile gets bigger, so maybe I did know what to say. Except, she's also wiping her eyes again, so maybe not. If I was the one crying she'd join me in my bed. So I climb up and sit next to her. The bed's really too big for just her anyway.

And her smile is back fully now so that was the right thing to do. And she pulls me closer so we're tucked in together, comfy and snug, as she pulls two chocolates out of the box. Before she pops hers in her mouth, she kisses me on top of my head.

"Thank you, Love," she whispers.

We're both smiling now, and I'm feeling a lot better, and I think she is too. We eat our chocolates, she turns off the light, and we settle in. And then we're both able to fall asleep.

* * *

I wrote this to try and figure out how to write Ralph (for another fic I'm working on) so I'd be grateful for any feedback on how I did writing him here.


End file.
